


Twin Lions

by MegatonneTalon



Series: FSN Romance AU [2]
Category: Fate/stay night - All Media Types
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-15
Updated: 2016-10-15
Packaged: 2018-08-22 12:12:11
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 17,602
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8285426
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MegatonneTalon/pseuds/MegatonneTalon
Summary: Two related side stories to Minding His Boss's Business (one set before the main story and one set after!)
Shirou had no idea that his best friend Artoria had a twin brother until Arthur showed up at their apartment asking to stay a while. He also had no idea that he would find a male version of Artoria to be so irresistible. He was, unfortunately, never one to pass up on a bad idea.





	1. Two Years Before

**Author's Note:**

> Okay this is a really self-indulgent spinoff of an already self-indulgent story. Arthur is based off the Arthur in Fate/Prototype, but I'm playing a little fast and loose with his character here. Also, I apologize for the overuse of really stereotypical m/m romance tropes in this... It's not real creative, but, like I said, I wrote it as pure self-indulgence.
> 
> This first part takes place two years before the main story and so doesn't require reading the main story at all!
> 
> Also this has not been beta read so any errors are my own, but if you find any really glaring mistakes/plot holes/typos please feel free to point them out in a comment!

On Monday, Shirou got home, hung his coat up, and walked into the living room before he realized that the person sitting on the couch playing video games was not Artoria.

He almost didn’t realize at all, even though she had told him she wouldn’t be home for dinner. He almost collapsed into the chair in the living room without noticing, because the person who was sitting on the couch looked so much like Artoria. The chief difference was that the person on the couch was a man. He froze before he’d fully committed to sitting down, but lost his balance and ended up falling gracelessly into the chair anyway. “Who the hell are you?” he asked.

The guy paused the game he was playing and looked at Shirou. “Hi,” he said.

“Who are you?” Shirou repeated.

“I’m Arthur. I’m Artoria’s brother.”

Artoria had never mentioned having a brother. She’d never mentioned having any siblings. She mentioned her parents every once in a while, back in California where she was from, but no siblings. But this guy… If it weren’t for the tight t-shirt he was wearing making the differences in his build very clear, he might actually believe it was Artoria with a short haircut and some clever makeup. He could definitely believe this guy was related to her.

“What?” he said.

“Her brother. We share the same parents?” he said, as if Shirou might not know what a brother was.

“Excuse me, but why are you here?” There was absolutely no way Artoria would not have told Shirou if her brother was coming. And she would be home if she’d known he was coming, which meant she didn’t know. “And how did you get into our apartment?”

“Your landlord let me in,” he said, apparently ignoring the first question. “Anyway, who are you? I assume you live here. Are you Tori’s boyfriend?”

Shirou had never heard someone call Artoria by that nickname. Somehow, hearing it now offended him enough that Kirei letting a total stranger into their apartment actually slipped past him. “I'm her roommate.”

“Where is she?”

“You didn't tell her you were coming?”

“No, I don't have her current phone number. I wasn't real sure about the address, either, but I'm glad that turned out to be right.”

It finally occurred to Shirou that he needed to call Artoria. She would have mentioned it if she were at some kind of event, so she must just be out with Rin. “I'm going to call her,” he said to Arthur.

“That's great!” he replied, smiling brightly.

He retreated into the kitchen and took out his phone. Artoria answered on the third ring, which meant she probably wasn’t filming, although Rin might have been. “Shirou? Is something wrong?”

Shirou very rarely called Artoria out of the blue, so it was a reasonable assumption for her to make. “Well… there’s kind of a situation here,” he said.

“A situation? Are you okay?”

“I’m fine. There’s just a guy here. He says he’s your brother?”

Silence.

“Artoria?”

“Wait a minute,” she said, and he could hear muffled sounds as she covered the phone, probably to talk to Rin. “I’m coming home,” she said, a minute later. “Make him wait in the hallway.”

“I can’t do that. Kirei apparently let him in.”

“What?”

“He was here when I got home.”

“Fine. I’ll be there in, um, half an hour probably. Archer just went to get his car. I can’t believe Kirei would just let someone into our apartment without informing either of us.”

Shirou glanced over at Arthur. It was certainly possible he’d lied about that and had in fact picked the lock, but that just seemed too ridiculous and he wasn’t going to suggest it. “Okay. See you then.”

* * *

Waiting for Artoria was awkward. Her cold reaction to the news her brother was there, combined with Arthur’s uninvited invasion of the apartment, did not give Shirou a favorable impression of the man. He had turned the game system and the TV off, and he kept trying to look at Shirou without Shirou noticing. Shirou kept noticing.

Ten minutes into that, Shirou finally got up. “Look, I haven’t had dinner yet. Have you?” Despite his poor impression, Shirou wasn’t the type to be able to eat in front of someone without offering them something.

Arthur perked up. “No, I haven’t eaten anything but a bagel on the train this morning.”

That horrified Shirou. Whether this guy was a home invader or not, he couldn’t accept someone skipping meals. “I’m going to make some dinner. It’s just leftovers, but you’re welcome to it.” He should have asked Artoria if she’d already eaten, but he could easily heat some more up when she got home if he needed to.

He’d made curry the night before. It was such an easy meal for leftovers that he always made enough for a couple of days. He threw some rice in the rice cooker, wishing he’d done that as soon as he’d gotten home. At least the cooker had a quick cycle.

Now that he was in the kitchen, he didn’t want to go back to the standoff in the living room, so he started putting together his lunch for the next day while the rice was cooking. He needed something to do with his hands to keep him from thinking too hard about Arthur.

It didn’t really help. He kept glancing at Arthur over the counter, and Arthur kept looking back at him, which meant their eyes kept meeting unintentionally. It was even more awkward than before. Shirou couldn’t stop looking, though. A male version of Artoria was fascinating to him.

Shirou’s interest in men was well-founded. He’d never, ever in his life been attracted sexually to a woman. He’d tried to be, back when he was a teen in puberty and everyone around him was getting girlfriends and losing their virginity, and he had slept with exactly one girl back then in what had been one of the most awful and embarrassing moments of his life. Once he understood what his preference was, he’d never looked back.

He hadn’t always been open about it. In high school, he’d had two different secret boyfriends, although Archer had found out about one of them. He’d come out to his father after that, who was confused but did his best to be supportive. His first years of college were exploratory, to put it mildly; he hadn’t had a steady boyfriend at really any point during his time as an art student, but he had slept with a large portion of the his fellow male art majors, many of whom were otherwise straight, and many of whom had not taken being treated as purely sex partners well. That had been a contributing factor to him switching majors, really, although he’d never mentioned that little tidbit to his father or his brother. He’d quieted down by necessity during his time abroad, as promiscuity could have potentially led to trouble, and trouble could lead to expulsion. He had ended up sleeping with one of his friends there anyway, which somehow turned into a slightly complicated relationship that had lasted until he’d gone back to America.

Artoria had come into his life around then, and he loved her dearly as family, but he’d never felt anything beyond familial affection for her as long as he’d known her. He thought of her as something like a sister, only a sister he got along with much better than he probably would have gotten along with an actual sister, if his relationship with Archer was anything to go on. That sense of family, though, was not helping the fact that he found Arthur to be damnably attractive.

Even the things that were irritating Shirou, like the way he was comfortably relaxed on the couch in someone else’s home, were also inexplicably hot. The smile he’d given Shirou when he’d greeted him, glowing and genuine. The way his blond hair was arranged, like some kind of artful bedhead. His well-built torso, obvious under the clinging t-shirt he had on, and not at all disguised by the thin cardigan he had on over it. The way he had that damn t-shirt tucked into his damn jeans, even! If he’d seen this guy at a bar somewhere, there would be no force on earth that would stop him from flirting hard and heavy.

Here, though, there were too many obstacles. He was Artoria’s brother, and Artoria evidently did not think highly of him. On top of that, Shirou had no idea what his sexuality actually was. He didn’t like to think about all men as straight until proven otherwise, but once outside of art school he’d learned it was the safest assumption to make considering how some men reacted to anything they perceived as a slight to their carefully-cultured masculinity. He’d been beaten up before and didn’t relish it happening again.

He was lost enough in thought that he didn’t notice the rice maker had beeped until it beeped the second time. He put down the tomato he was slicing and got the curry out of the fridge, transferring half of it to another container to heat up before sticking it in the microwave and quickly putting the finishing touches on his sandwich for tomorrow.

* * *

He'd just handed Arthur a plate of curry and rice when Artoria came in. She was dressed in what must have been an outfit of Rin’s, a short, blue cocktail dress with a variety of bracelets on one arm and strappy, high-heeled sandals Shirou had never seen before. “Did you leave your coat somewhere?” Shirou asked, immediately.

She’d just closed the door behind her and she froze. “Shit, I did,” she said. She’d come in looking tense and angry, but Shirou’s question deflated her slightly.

“Do you want some curry?” He’d ended up heating up more than enough anyway, and made more rice than he really needed, too.

“Shirou, are you seriously feeding him?” She crossed her arms, although her attempt to stare him down was somewhat ineffective as, even with the heels, he was still a few inches taller than her.

“I wasn’t going to make myself dinner and ignore him,” Shirou said, feeling like he shouldn’t even have to point that out. He only said it because she was completely ignoring Arthur, who seemed unsurprised by the treatment. He was just holding his plate and mixing his curry and rice together while watching Artoria and Shirou’s exchange.

Shirou retreated to the kitchen as she came in and sat on the chair in the living room. She crossed her legs, then uncrossed them and leaned forward with her elbow on her knees. She hadn’t actually said whether or not she wanted some curry, but he fixed her a plate of it anyway.

He carried it into the living room and handed it to her before she’d said anything. She had to adjust her aggressive position to account for now having a plate of food in her hand. He got out one of their TV trays for her, and then went back to the kitchen again. He felt like he was intruding on a private situation, but Artoria hadn’t asked him to leave, so he just stood at the counter and ate his own curry.

“Why are you here?” Artoria asked.

Arthur put his plate down on the coffee table. He probably could use a TV tray of his own, but Shirou wasn’t going to get it for him. “Manaka and I are divorcing.”

Artoria dropped her spoon with a clatter. Shirou had no idea who Manaka was, but he was surprised to know someone as young as Arthur had been married long enough to be splitting up. His eyes slid to Arthur’s hands, although if they were divorced now there wouldn’t be a wedding band anymore.

“I know I screwed a lot of things up by running off with her in the first place,” Arthur continued. “And I realize now that it was never a stable or healthy relationship. All the warning signs were there, and I ignored them until things just, I guess, broke. I’ve been living in a hotel for the past six months but now I’m out of money. Mom and Dad won’t speak to me. The rest of the money I have is frozen until the divorce is finalized, but the law says we have to live apart for a year before that can happen, and I’m having a tough enough time as it is getting her to let go.”

“What actually happened?” Artoria asked.

Arthur glanced at Shirou. “I don’t really want to rehash it now,” he said. “She and I both said and did things we shouldn’t have. The police were involved. It got real bad.” He rubbed at his arm while he said that, and Shirou wondered what was concealed underneath the sleeve of his sweater. “You can tell me ‘I told you so’ if you want.”

Shirou couldn’t really see Artoria’s expression from where he was, but she leaned back further into the chair and sighed. “I don’t want to gloat over your loss,” she said. “I’m not cruel. We all saw the warning signs long before you did, and I wish you’d listened, but there’s nothing that can change that now.”

“Yeah,” Arthur said. He picked up his plate again and took a bite before putting it back down. Maybe Shirou should get the TV tray, although he felt awkward enough as it was without reminding the two of them he was still there.

“I doubt Mom and Dad are going to forgive you anytime soon,” Artoria said. “You know I don’t feel the same way as them. It’s not like I had a life planned out for you that you threw away or anything. I was angry when you left because you wouldn’t even consider what we were telling you about her.”

“Be honest, Tori… If someone told you the person you were madly in love with was dishonest and cruel, would you believe them? I know you were right now, but back then all I was hearing was that no one wanted me to be happy. And Manaka was always, always good at manipulating people.”

“I told you she was manipulating you!”

“And she told me you were just jealous because I was willing to go against our parents and you weren't. Which,” he added, “clearly isn't true, since you're now living in New York and making a living off YouTube.”

Artoria sighed. “I guess I’m the pot calling the kettle black here. I ran off a year after you did, and though I’ve gotten a response from Mom a few times when I’ve reached out, I haven’t seen either of them since then.”

That explained why Artoria so rarely mentioned her parents. She’d only been in New York for a year when she’d answered his ad for a roommate, and on her third year of school. He wondered what the age difference actually was between her and Arthur. How old had Arthur been when he got married?

Arthur took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Putting all that aside,” he said, “I’m here to ask you to forgive me for not listening to you, but I’m also asking if I can stay with you. For a month, maybe, until I can find a job and a place of my own. I think I might stick around New York, at least for a while.”

Artoria turned to look back at Shirou, who had finished his curry but was just standing over his empty plate. “It’s not just up to me,” she said. “Really, this apartment is in Shirou’s name anyway.”

Shirou shrugged. “I don’t mind. He’s family, right? I mean, you’d let Archer stay if something happened.” That might not be true, since if something happened between Archer and Rin, Artoria would almost certainly be on Rin’s side, but it was the sentiment that mattered.

“You’ll have to sleep on the couch, though. And you’ll have to stay out of my hair while I record. Shirou’s got a normal job, but I’m home most of the time.”

“I’ll probably be out a lot, anyway. I do need to do some serious job hunting. It can’t be easy to find employment in New York City.”

“Do you have a degree?” Shirou asked, curious.

Arthur shook his head. “No. Got married right out of high school, and I worked to put her through college.”

“Really?” Artoria said. “You were always so excited about going to college! And your grades were so good!”

He shrugged. “Sometimes things don’t work out according to plan,” he said.

Shirou started washing the dishes. Arthur hadn’t finished his curry yet, but the sound of the water running apparently made him remember it existed, and he picked it up and started eating in earnest. Artoria finished hers as well and brought the plate in to give to Shirou, then picked up the kitchen towel and took over drying duty. “Sorry about this,” she said, quiet enough that Arthur probably couldn’t hear it over the sound of the water.

“I can’t believe you have a brother. How old is he?”

She looked sheepish. “We’re twins,” she said.

“Twins?” Shirou said this too loudly, and Arthur looked up.

“Don’t we look like it?” he asked.

“You don’t have to be twins to look like your sibling,” Shirou said. “My brother and I look a lot alike, and we’re years apart.”

“You do  _ not _ look alike,” Artoria said. “The only thing about you that looks like Archer is your eyebrows.”

Arthur came over and leaned on the bar, apparently very interested. He handed his now-empty plate over to Shirou. “Your brother’s name is Archer? That sounds so much like my name.”

“It’s not his real name,” Shirou said.

“What?” Artoria asked. “Are you serious?”

“You didn’t know that? He hates his real name, but he never legally changed it. I think he wants to before the wedding so it’s not on his wedding certificate. Did you really think a full-blooded Japanese man would be named ‘Archer,’ of all things?”

“Well, I mean, I thought it was kind of weird, since your name is Japanese and his isn’t, but your dad is also…” she stopped. “I guess I thought your dad was weird enough to have renamed him even though you’re both adopted?”

“Kiritsugu wouldn’t have done that! He took the longest to actually start calling him Archer, anyway. He started going by it in high school. He’s got his medical certificate framed in his apartment, didn’t you ever notice that it doesn’t say Archer? It’s the reason he doesn’t have it in his office at the hospital.”

“I never really looked at it.”

Arthur seemed to be enjoying this whole conversation. “So, you’re adopted, and your brother’s a doctor?” he asked. “What do you do for a living? You dress really nice for it, whatever it is.”

“I’m a personal assistant,” Shirou said. “To the CEO of Avalon Tech.”

“A personal assistant?”

“He’s like a secretary,” Artoria said. “Only he works way harder.”

“It’s not really like a secretary,” Shirou insisted, even though he knew Artoria was baiting him. “I do a lot of stuff, but he has an actual administrative person to file paperwork and that kind of thing.”

Shirou shut the water off after he handed Artoria the last clean plate. He shook his hands over the sink and then grabbed a paper towel to dry them. “You two probably have some catching up to do, so I’m going to go out for a bit.”

“You don’t have to go,” Artoria said.

“You’ve already heard the worst of the dirty laundry anyway,” Arthur added.

“It’s okay. I’m in the mood for a walk, anyway, and I’ll go by the grocery store on the way back. We’re just about out of a few things, especially if we’ve got an extra mouth to feed. And don’t forget to call Rin! You don’t want to lose that coat.”

* * *

The real reason Shirou wanted to get out, as he stepped into the crisp October air, was because Arthur’s proximity to him when he’d leaned over the bar had been too much. He wondered if the guy had any clue about his own power. He was maddeningly attractive. He even  _ smelled _ good, despite the fact that he’d probably spent the night on a train or something to get there. And he was going to be living on their couch, probably for a month? Shirou was going to have to hope for a long business trip, as soon as possible, or he was going to lose his mind.

He couldn’t even complain to Artoria about it. That conversation would be beyond uncomfortable. She was normally supportive of his fruitless crushes, even if her support was teasing, and even if she tended to dislike any guy he ended up actually dating. He doubted she’d be that supportive when it was her own brother, who was clearly a straight guy. It was going to take considerable personal effort not to hit on Arthur at all, although he wondered if Arthur would even notice if he did.

This wouldn’t be so bad if he had a boyfriend right now. He’d have someone to distract him. The timing of his last breakup had been bad on many fronts, but he felt like this made it somehow much worse. He’d been too busy to really pursue anything romantic since then, which also did not help. His libido had been lying dormant for too long and was now too excited at the slightest whiff of a hot guy.

He realized he’d inadvertently walked in the direction of his favorite bar instead of the direction of the grocery store and grudgingly turned around. This was not the time for a quickie in the bar’s bathroom, and even less the time for an impromptu one-night stand. He had work tomorrow, and he needed to be well-rested and coherent for that, as his boss had put him in charge of writing his speech for an upcoming technology conference.

* * *

His walk lasted about an hour, a good cooldown, and then he stopped at the grocery store to get what they needed for the rest of the week. Artoria was probably worried by now, since it was long past dark, so he headed home.

The couch was already draped in a sheet, their only spare set, along with their only spare pillow and quilt, ready for Arthur to spend the night there. Artoria was sitting in the chair still, reading a gaming magazine, and the shower was running. “I’m back,” Shirou said.

“Did you have a nice walk?” Artoria asked.

“It’s kind of chilly, but it wasn’t bad. Did you have a nice talk with your brother?”

She sighed. “Not much of one. I don’t know how much you put together from the conversation earlier, but he basically eloped with his high-school girlfriend the minute they graduated. Just split town. He barely even took any of his stuff, just a single suitcase that actually belonged to our mother. And she was a basket case. His girlfriend, not our mom.”

Shirou finished putting the groceries away and leaned against the counter in the kitchen again. It was an awkward position for Artoria to have a conversation with him in since she had to half turn around in the chair, but he didn’t want to sit on the couch since it was already all made up. “Manaka, her name was?”

“Yeah. Manaka Sajyou. She was  _ obsessed _ with Arthur, to the point it was dangerous. She hated me for spending too much time with him. I’m his  _ sister _ . I never understood what he saw in her, but according to him at the time she was smart, funny, and gentle. I never saw any evidence of her being funny or gentle, and I’d use the word ‘cunning’ more than ‘smart.’ She had no friends other than Arthur, and Arthur had no real friends because of Manaka. No one could get close to him without her taking them aside and threatening them, and he was completely oblivious to it. He never questioned why no one invited him to parties or movies or anything, despite having been very popular in junior high. He never noticed it. He was too busy trying to keep her happy.”

“That certainly doesn’t sound sustainable. But if you guys are twins, how long were they married for? I would have expected a relationship like that to end as soon as they were both out of their teens, if not earlier.”

“Married for almost nine years! It defies reason. He won’t even talk about what really happened to break them up. It must have been something horrific.”

“Well, hopefully the two of you can make up for lost time a bit while he’s staying here?” Shirou said. “He seems like a good guy, anyway. I find it hard to believe anyone related to you could be anything but nice.”

“You can only say that because you’ve never met our parents,” Artoria said. “I’m sorry for the inconvenience of all this. Apparently he was able to track down my address through an old mutual friend of ours. I guess it’s a good thing I’ve been living here since college.”

“Oh, good,” Shirou said. “Since he knew what your career is, I was half afraid he’d found your address on some crazy fan forum or something.”

Artoria laughed. “I don’t think my address is out there, thankfully. I can’t believe Kirei let him in the apartment, though. Or, rather, I kind of can… Arthur can be very persuasive when he wants to be. He probably spun some ridiculous sob story that even someone like Kirei couldn’t resist.”

“Your landlord is kind of creepy,” Arthur said. He turned the corner back into the room, a towel draped around his bare shoulders, wearing only a pair of sweatpants. “I haven’t had a decent shower since Sunday. The last motel I was at barely had any hot water.”

Shirou did not need this. He did not need the guy he’d just spent an hour outside in the cold trying to not think about to be wandering around his own damn apartment with dripping hair and no shirt on. In his effort not to stare at Arthur’s finely sculpted chest, his eyes settled on the arm he’d been rubbing earlier, and the long, angry-looking scar there that twisted up and around his forearm.

Artoria apparently spotted it at the same time, but she got up and rushed over. “What the hell happened to your arm?”

Arthur hid it behind his back defensively. “Don’t worry about it. It’s basically healed,” he said.

“Did Manaka do that?”

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

“So she did, huh?”

“Seriously, Tori. I don’t want to talk about it. She and I are through, and you don’t need to worry about her anymore. Okay?”

Artoria glowered, but she backed off. “I’m going to bed,” she said. “Good night.” She pushed past Arthur and disappeared around the corner, and the bathroom door shut with a punctuating bang a moment later.

“Sorry,” Shirou said, although he didn’t really have the right to apologize for Artoria. “Uh, do you need anything else? Some water?”

“What? Oh, yeah, some water would be nice. That curry was pretty spicy. I feel like I can still taste it even after I brushed my teeth.”

“Artoria likes it spicy,” Shirou said. Was that a stupid thing to say? He went into the kitchen to get a glass of water.

“You said you’re not her boyfriend,” Arthur said, “But she lives with you? And the apartment’s in your name?”

Shirou handed him the glass of water and then sat down in the chair, moving the magazine Artoria had left to the coffee table. “I put out an ad for a roommate in college, and she answered it because I never specified gender. It’s worked out pretty well, though. We get along alright. It’s been… four years now, I think?”

“Four years and you’ve never put a move on her?”

It was exactly the line of questioning Shirou had expected. Was Arthur hoping Shirou did put moves on his sister, or hoping he wouldn’t? Shirou couldn’t tell. Most of the time when people asked about this Shirou would just laugh it off, but he felt like he should just tell Arthur the truth. He didn’t want to make Artoria’s brother uncomfortable, and he also didn’t want to make Arthur feel self-conscious enough to put a shirt on, but in this case he thought it simpler to get it out in the open. “I’m gay,” Shirou said.

Arthur took a step backwards, then turned slightly away. He probably did it unconsciously. Shirou had seen it before, even in people who took pride in their pro-gay politics or ideals. Straight men were almost universally uncomfortable around gay men who made no effort to conceal their identities, although Shirou’s friends of a more feminine persuasion definitely had it worse than he did.

Shirou smiled, trying not to seem insincere. “You don’t need to worry about it,” he said. “I’m not going to come out here and molest you in your sleep.”

“No, sorry, I don’t think you will. I’ve just, uh, honestly never met a gay man before. I mean, at least not that I know of?”

“Well, we’re human like anyone else,” Shirou said. The bathroom door opened, and he wanted to cut this conversation off before Artoria heard the tail end of it, in case it got her angry at Arthur again. “It sounds like Artoria’s done in the bathroom, and you seem like you’re ready for bed, so I think I’m going to call it a night too.” It was only 8:30, but Shirou could read in bed just fine.

* * *

The rest of the week went smoothly. Arthur did start sleeping with a shirt on, to Shirou’s well-concealed disappointment. Under normal circumstances, Shirou got annoyed at guys who became suspicious and defensive after learning Shirou’s sexuality. In this case, he felt like he couldn't really be mad if Arthur felt that way. He certainly wanted to make a move on the guy. On the other hand, the shirts could just be because it was October already, and their apartment was not in the best insulated building.

Whatever the reason for the shirts at night, Arthur was a polite and appreciative houseguest. He was considerably more handy than Artoria in the kitchen, he folded up the sheets on the couch every morning, he even cleaned the bathtub and toilet without being asked. He was out a lot during the day, from what Artoria said, looking for help wanted signs in person instead of just checking online listings, which meant he was out of her hair while she recorded. While having someone sleeping on your couch in a tiny apartment wasn’t ideal by any means, it wasn’t really having much of an impact on Shirou other than needing to be extra quiet when he left for work in the mornings.

That weekend, however, Artoria had a job that was going to take her out of town. She had apparently not told Arthur about her second career, moonlighting as a bodyguard for celebrities at events, and she also apparently did not want him to know. Shirou didn’t understand why, but when she took him aside and specifically told him to pretend she was at a gaming event that weekend, he agreed to it without really questioning her.

It wasn’t until he got home on Friday night that he realized Artoria’s absence over the weekend meant he would probably need to entertain Arthur. His plans for the weekend had previously been to drink until he forgot about Arthur’s stupid handsome face and maybe find someone to have some overnight fun with. Those plans were probably out the window now.

Currently, Arthur was sitting on the sofa, the same way he had been on Monday when he’d first shown up. He was playing a game again, too, and Shirou plopped himself down in the chair to watch a little. It didn’t look like Arthur was as good at games as Artoria was, but he didn’t seem bad, either. Maybe he and Artoria could collaborate sometime? Artoria had a lot of female fans, as far as Shirou understood, and they’d probably react quite well to a male clone of her showing up on her channel facecam.

He went from watching the screen to watching Arthur’s hands on the controller. He had large hands, with long, precise fingers. He took good care of his fingernails, too. That was a rare thing amongst many of the men Shirou knew and worked with, and it was an instant turn-on for him.

He was engrossed enough in his staring that he almost didn’t realize Arthur was speaking to him. He only caught the tail end, “--away for the weekend like this?”

“Not that often,” he said, surmising that he must be asking about Artoria. “A few times a year, maybe?”

“I guess most big gaming things are on the west coast, huh?”

Shirou shrugged. That was probably true. Artoria had gone to a few events in California, but she hated going there. In retrospect, that should have been a big giveaway that there was something between her and her parents, since he’d known they lived there. Then again, he didn’t know exactly where her parents lived. The gaming stuff all seemed to be in LA or San Diego, and he’d always assumed she just hated it because it was so expensive there. “She goes out there every once in a while,” he said. “Most of the events she does are closer to home. I guess the developers aren’t here but there’s enough of a community.” He was definitely not making it sound like Artoria was currently at a gaming event.

Shirou’s phone rang before Arthur could respond and he picked it up without even looking to see who it was.

“Shirouuu,” Rin said before he could even say hello, “Artoria and Archer are both out of town and I'm boooored! Do you want to catch a movie or something?”

“Did Artoria not tell you about Arthur?” he asked. If that was supposed to be a secret from Rin, Artoria should have told him.

“Arthur? Who is that?” Rin asked. “Waaaait, do you have a new boyfriend finally?”

“No! He's her brother!”

Silence.

“Artoria’s brother?”

“Are you trying to tell me that not only does Artoria have a secret brother she's never mentioned, ever, not even to me, her best friend, but he is here in the city currently and she still hasn't mentioned it to me?”

“I didn't know she didn't tell you. I just assumed she would have. He's staying with us for a little while?”

“Shut up! I'll be there shortly. This is insane and I don't really believe you, but you wouldn't lie about something this insane either.” She hung up before he could respond.

“Who was that?” Arthur asked while Shirou stared at his phone.

“Rin,” he said. “Artoria’s best friend. My brother’s fiancée.”

“I thought you were Tori’s best friend.”

“She can have more than one best friend,” Shirou said. “Rin is apparently coming over, so I'm gonna guess we’re going out to eat.” He hesitated, then said, “It’s my treat.”

Arthur frowned. “You don’t have to pay for me. I do have some money, just not enough to have kept living in a hotel for any longer.”

“It’s fine. You may just be staying with us while you look for a job, but you’re a guest anyway.”

Instead of arguing the point, Arthur changed the subject. “So… Rin? How do you spell that?”

“R-I-N,” Shirou said. “Like I said, she’s my brother’s fiancée.”

“Your brother, who’s adopted, like you. But you’re brothers by blood? That’s what I understood from the other day.”

“Yeah, Archer and I were adopted together.”

“Are you from Japan?”

Shirou shrugged. “We were adopted here, but as far as I know we’re both full-blooded Japanese. So is our father, although he grew up in Britain mostly.”

“Huh. Does he have a British accent or a Japanese accent, then? Our dad’s actually British too. He’s a professor of English literature. He named Tori and I after some king in an old British epic.”

“Both of you after the same king?” He’d noticed Artoria and Arthur had semi-matching names, but he’d assumed that was just their parents trying to be cute, not that they shared the same namesake.

“Yeah, we weren’t supposed to be twins originally. They only wanted one kid, and Dad had his heart set on it being a boy he’d name Arthur. Twins were a surprise, but he and Mom couldn’t decide what to name the second twin, so they just kind of made up a female version of Arthur. It’s based on the Germanic pronunciation or something, I don’t really get it. We always just called her Tori, so it’s kind of weird hearing you say ‘Artoria’ all the time.”

“‘Tori’ sounds just as weird to me,” Shirou said. “She’s never gone by that since I’ve known her.”

“I guess she figured she may as well stop using her childhood nickname if she was making a new start. ‘Artoria’ is probably a better name if you’re trying to get famous on social media or whatever, too. I’m sure it stands out.”

“She always complains no one can spell it, though. What about you, have you always just been ‘Arthur,’ or did you use a nickname?”

“Manaka called me Arty. No one else calls me anything but Arthur, and I’d really like to keep it that way.”

It was strange to hear him talk about Manaka so casually. Shirou hated discussing any of his ex-boyfriends, and he hadn’t even been married to any of them. The longest he’d even ever dated any of them was two years. “I’ve never used a nickname, either,” he said. “No one really knows what to do with ‘Shirou.’”

“Yeah, I don’t know either. ‘Shi’ obviously doesn’t work. ‘Rou’ sounds stupid too.”

“When I lived in Japan, some of my friends called me ‘America’ just because it confused strangers,” Shirou said. He had never minded because it gave him an excuse for his Japanese being terrible when he’d first arrived. They’d kind of dropped it once he’d picked up the language better.

“You lived in Japan? But I thought you said you were from here?”

“Went to college there,” Shirou said. “A year and a half while I was working on my undergrad. I thought I’d go into foreign relations or something, but that never happened.”

A sharp knock on the door interrupted them before Arthur could ask any more questions. Time had passed quickly while they’d been talking. He let Rin in and she assessed Arthur coolly with her hands on her hips. Arthur had the sense to look slightly nervous, but he still stood up and held out a hand to her. Shirou wondered why she got a warmer greeting than he had that first day. Arthur hadn’t even bothered to put the game controller down when he’d first gotten home.

“Well, you certainly look like Artoria’s brother,” Rin said, this apparently being the whole conclusion of her assessment of him. She shook his hand and smiled. “I’m Rin. I guess Shirou already told you how I know Artoria.”

“Yeah, you’re his future sister-in-law. Do you only know Tori through Shirou, then?”

“ _ Tori _ ?” Rin said, giving Shirou a sidelong look. “Yeah, sort of. I’m a YouTuber, too, but I don’t do gaming. We wouldn’t really travel the same circles normally but we already knew each other from that before I knew I was dating her roommate’s brother. Small world. But what’s your story? Artoria has never, ever mentioned having a brother. And are you twins? You sure look like twins.”

“We are, in fact, twins,” Arthur laughed. “I’ve been kind of estranged from the family for a while, which is probably why she’s never mentioned me.”

Shirou wondered if none of Artoria’s friends ever having heard of him bothered him at all. How would he feel about it if Archer never told anyone he had a brother? His and Archer’s family situation was complicated enough to begin with, though. From the sound of it, until Arthur had eloped after high school, they’d had a pretty normal home life.

“Family drama, huh?” Rin was saying. “Well, I won’t pry. It’s nice to meet you, anyway, although it’s too bad Artoria isn’t here. Hey, are you guys hungry? Let’s go out. It’s Friday night, there’s places to be!”

“You are  _ not _ allowed to film this,” Shirou said. “If Artoria didn’t even tell you about Arthur, I’m not letting you tell the entire Internet about him.”

“I’m not awful,” Rin said. “I’ve already come to that conclusion on my own. I don’t have to share every single thing in my private life with my fans. We’ll go to a new place, too, to keep from running into anyone.”

“Fans?” Arthur said. “Do you, uh, often run into your fans when you go out?”

Rin shrugged. “Well, I do a lot of vlogging as well as doing lifestyle and fashion videos,” she explained. “So anyone who watches my channel knows my most frequent haunts. It’s usually out of towners here on vacation who show up, and it’s more often that they wanted to check a place out and if they see me there it’s just a bonus. But don’t worry about it. Like I said, I’m not going to plaster you all over the internet. Artoria’s fans would have a meltdown if I did.”

“I wish you felt the same way about me,” Shirou said. “You have no problem putting me in half your vlogs.”

“Don’t flatter yourself,” Rin said. “You’re in maybe ten percent. Videos you’re in always get a ton of views, so you’re just going to have to deal with it. Don’t worry, though, I’ve done a good job keeping your true identity secret.”

Arthur looked from one of them to the other with a smile before he finally interrupted. “So where are we going?”

“Someone just told me about this great place I want to try,” Rin said. “And then we can go to a bar or something.”

A bar was a terrible idea. While Shirou’s had definitely planned to involve alcohol in his weekend, “drinking to forget Arthur's stupid handsome face” and “drinking while Arthur’s stupid handsome face was in close proximity” were two very different things and the latter was more likely going to end in a whole laundry list of regrets.

He went along with it anyway. He always did. He had a lot of trouble saying no to people, especially Rin, and he had the feeling if he bowed out Rin was still going to take Arthur and they'd probably get into trouble without him.

Dinner was slightly awkward, until Rin got Arthur on a tangent about ridiculous things he and Artoria had gotten up to when they were younger. Artoria had apparently been a child with a strong sense of justice, who used to get in trouble for beating up playground bullies. Shirou would have loved to see accompanying visuals for any of her greatest victories.

By the time they moved to the bar, Shirou was feeling like he could be normal friends with Arthur, without any one-sided sexual tension. He was an easy guy to get along with, just as much as Artoria was, but where Artoria tended towards seriousness, Arthur seemed perpetually relaxed. His tentative living situation and apparently messy divorce should have been weighing him down, but if they were he was doing an amazing job of hiding it.

He watched Rin showing Arthur something Artoria had done on one of her vlogs while he sipped a beer, admiring the look of affection Arthur had while looking at his sister on the tiny screen. He was glad the two of them had reunited, at least for Arthur’s sake. He clearly loved his sister and must have missed her for all the years he’d been gone. He hoped Artoria felt similarly. He also hoped she would forgive him for introducing Arthur to Rin. She probably had not expected that Rin would be calling Shirou at all this weekend, as it was not that common for Shirou to hang out with Rin without Artoria.

At the end of the night, Shirou was certainly drunk. Not extremely, but enough to let his inhibitions slide. He clung to Arthur almost the entire subway ride back, except for when he fuzzily realized he shouldn’t be and let go, but every time he did that he lost his balance on the moving train and Arthur ended up grabbing him instead. “You do not handle your drinks well, do you?” Arthur asked him as they got off the train.

“I try not to,” Shirou said. “Try not to drink. Too much. But we were having so much fun!”

“Thank god we don’t have to walk far to the building,” Arthur said.

He tried to pull Shirou’s arm over his shoulder to support him that way, but Shirou ducked out of it. “I can walk,” he said. “Just point me in the right direction. Or not really, since it’s my apartment and I know where it is.”

Arthur sighed as Shirou began walking purposefully down the street and trailed after him.

* * *

When they got inside, Arthur made Shirou sit down on the couch and got him some water. “You should drink it all. I think you’re going to be hungover tomorrow,” he said, sitting down to hand the glass to Shirou.

He started to get up again, but Shirou grabbed his arm with the hand that was not holding the water. Arthur’s green eyes widened at that, and Shirou let go immediately. He took a sip of water. “You should have some water too,” he said.

Arthur nodded and slowly stood back up. Shirou did not grab him again. He went into the kitchen and got his own glass of water, and then came back and sat in the chair.

They both drank their water in silence, and when Shirou finished his he put it carefully on the coffee table. He stood. “I need to go to bed,” he said. He was still drunk, but he was at least self-aware enough to realize he should separate himself from Arthur before he tried to crawl into the other man’s lap, or worse.

Arthur got up at the same time he did. “Hey, wait,” he said, reaching out and catching Shirou’s wrist as he tried to move out from in front of the couch. His grip strength definitely matched the powerful look of his hands. He let Shirou shake him off, but Shirou did wait.

“Are you really gay?” Arthur blurted out.

“What?”

“Like… I know you said you are, but is that really true?”

“Why else would I say it?” Shirou said, his sudden flare of anger hotter than it would have been if he had not had so many beers. “Do you think I'm faking it for attention?”

“Faking it because of my sister, maybe? To get closer to her?”

Shirou’s tone was flat. “If I was doing that, wouldn't I have tried something in the past three… No, four years?”

“How many men have you slept with?”

Hadn’t he just been talking about Artoria? “That is absolutely none of your business.”

Arthur was blocking his way out from the couch. He tried to duck past him, but his tipsiness kept him from quite making it, and he ended up crashing into Arthur instead.

The other man caught him and steadied him, but his hand lingered on Shirou’s shoulder. “Am I your type?” He asked.

“What!?”

“Am I?” He shifted himself forward. His body was far too close, barely not touching Shirou’s.

“Back off,” Shirou said. He wanted to push the other man away, but he was afraid to touch him.

“Just answer my question. It’s a simple question, I think.” His hand was still on Shirou’s shoulder, and he squeezed the muscle there slightly.

Shirou’s drunken buzz had quickly faded. He brushed Arthur’s hand off his shoulder, then tried again to sidestep around him. Arthur grabbed his arm with a tighter grip this time. “Let go,” Shirou said.

To his surprise, Arthur did let go. And backed off. “Sorry,” he said. He was holding both hands up in front of him in a gesture of surrender. “Sorry. I got carried away.”

“Carried away?” Shirou repeated, somewhat indignant.

“I’m really sorry.”

“What the hell was all that about? Are you trying to test me? I’m not after Artoria! She’s my best friend, and that’s all. I don’t really care how gay you think I am or am not, but don’t try to make me out to be some kind of predator. I get enough of that shit as it is.”

“Enough of that shit?”

Shirou retreated to the other side of the couch. He felt better with even that small barrier between them. “From homophobes and jackasses.”

Arthur actually looked cowed at that. “I’m sorry. I didn’t really mean to imply anything like that. I really don’t doubt your friendship with Tori, but–” He stopped, his gaze sliding from Shirou to the floor.

“But what?” Shirou challenged.

Arthur shook his head. “Nothing. I guess… I don’t know how to put it, okay? I don’t think I’d say that, well, like… I really don’t know how to say this.”

“I don’t know what you’re trying to say,” Shirou said. “So you’re on your own.”

He took several deep breaths, then finally looked up from the floor. “I think you’re attractive, okay? Honestly. I’m not trying to entrap you into something here, and I’m sorry for how I approached it. I’ve never been attracted to a guy before… or at least, I’ve never allowed myself to be. I can’t really honestly say I haven’t been.”

“You… What?”

“I'm attracted to you!” Arthur said.

Shirou stared at him. “Are you serious?”

“I’m serious!” He ruffled his hand through his hair, a gesture that Shirou had found endearing before this extremely botched confession and now he found just made him angrier.

“You can’t think a confession like that sounds sincere under the circumstances. You accuse me of tricking your sister to get close to her, and then you’ve got the hots for me?” He could actually accept that Arthur’s actions of a minute ago had been an extremely clumsy attempt at seduction, but Arthur’s admitting that didn’t change how inappropriate it had been.

“I’ve  _ had _ the ‘hots’ for you!” Arthur said. “Since you walked in here the first day I was here! Immediately! I didn’t want to say anything because of Tori, and I shouldn’t have said anything now. I’m sorry!”

“Are you serious?” Shirou asked, again, but without the hostility of the first time.

“I’m really sorry. Just forget about it. Please just forget I said anything, okay?” Arthur finally just buried his face in his hands, but Shirou could clearly see his ears had turned bright red behind them.

Despite himself, he was charmed. Since Arthur had married his high school sweetheart almost immediately after graduating, and their divorce was still ongoing, he supposed Arthur had no real experience in either seduction or confessions. He tried to decide if that really excused his behavior. “It’s hard to forget something like that,” he said.

Arthur actually peeked between his fingers. He’d gone from being a blond hunk to completely adorable in the space of a less than a minute. “Please?” he said.

Shirou came back into the living room. He leaned against the bar, a few feet away from where Arthur was still standing. “What if we start again from the beginning?” he said.

“From the beginning?” Arthur let his hands drop somewhat, although his face behind them was still colored by his embarrassment.

“Pretend, for example, that I’m just a guy you’re seeing for the first time at a bar, or a party, or whatever. You want to get to know me.”

Arthur didn’t say anything. Then, he dropped his hands completely and straightened his back and shoulders. His face was still pretty red. “Uh… hi,” he said.

Shirou smiled. He couldn’t help it. “For the record,” he said, “I’m usually into guys with a bit more self-confidence. Since I know a little about your circumstances, though, I think I can stand not to dock you any points for that. You certainly look like the kind of guy I’d go for.”

“Really?” Arthur brightened instantly, and it was probably a lost cause after that.

He stepped in this time. Arthur stood his ground as Shirou picked up his hand and put it on his own cheek. This was probably a bad idea, but he didn't care. He wasn't a saint who could resist this kind of temptation. “You’re definitely my type,” he said. “What are you going to do about it?”

“Um,” Arthur said. For a second, he looked terrified, but then he took a deep breath and said, “Can I kiss you?”

“Yes,” Shirou said.

Arthur’s kiss was clumsy. Shirou immediately got the impression that Arthur’s wife had been the dominant one in their relationship. He had a lot of experience with getting guys where he wanted them, though, and he guided Arthur into something that was less awkward and more pleasurable for him.

He was a little surprised when Arthur gently pushed him back against the bar again. He'd felt trapped by the other man earlier, but now he relished it. Arthur’s hands pinned Shirou’s arms to his sides, but his hands could still roam to a limited degree, and he fisted them in the front of Arthur’s t-shirt.

Abruptly, Arthur tried to pull away. Shirou didn't let go, letting his body lean against Arthur’s when the taller man backed into the couch. “Hey, hey, wait.”

Shirou looked at him, his eyes half-lidded. “Mm?”

“Uh, I just… I'm not…” The blond was flushed from his neck to his ears, and Shirou thought he should probably be ashamed of himself for how excited that made him. He wasn't really that used to flustering a romantic partner. “Should we be doing this?”

Shirou straightened, but it didn't escape his notice that Arthur had to make a conscious effort not to follow him upwards. “I'm pretty sure you're the one who came on to me,” he said.

“I know. I know!”

“Is it just because I'm a guy?”

“No! Absolutely not! That is not the problem. It's just…”

“You seem to have a lot of objections you aren't actually willing to voice,” Shirou said. He was getting annoyed again. Not angry like he was earlier, just irritated. He’d been enjoying making out with Arthur and he wasn’t prepared to give up on it so easily.

That hair ruffling gesture again. “I mean… Don't you think it's a little inappropriate? Because Tori…”

“Because you two look so much alike, you mean?” Shirou didn't really see how that would bother Arthur. “You're not really that much alike beyond your faces.”

“Not looks, I don't care about that. I guess I feel like I'm betraying her trust, a little?”

“Why? We’re friends. I'm not dating her.”

Arthur cringed a little. He waved his hands as if to illustrate a point he hadn't yet managed to make. “Like, because she doesn't really like me, I guess?”

“I'll be honest,” Shirou said, “Artoria hates the majority of guys I've dated. So does my brother–”

“Archer?”

“Besides that,” Shirou raised his voice slightly over Arthur’s attempt to change the subject, “I don’t think Artoria hates you as much as you think she does. If she really hated you, she wouldn’t have let you stay here, and certainly not for an extended period of time.”

Arthur was quiet, not meeting Shirou’s gaze.

Shirou started to turn back toward the kitchen. “It’s your choice,” he said. “I think I’ve made my own opinion clear.”

He didn’t make it more than half a step before Arthur grabbed his shoulder and then hooked an arm around his waist. He pulled Shirou close, tight against his body, and kissed him again.

It was clear that Arthur was a quick study, as this kiss was nowhere near as awkward as the first. He didn’t let it linger, though. “Do you want to move to your bed?” he asked.

* * *

It seemed almost outrageously forward of him, but Shirou had already come to realize that Arthur was a lot like his sister: when he made decisions, he committed to them fully. And Shirou was open to the idea. He hadn’t gotten laid in a while. Only once since his last breakup, which had been over a month ago. Maybe it was the wrong note to establish a relationship on, but then again it couldn’t hurt to find out right away whether or not they were sexually compatible.

He’d almost forgotten about Arthur’s particular circumstances when they tumbled onto the bed. Shirou pulled the blond down over him with a fistful of his shirt and kissed him again, but Arthur kept his hands off Shirou, only using them to support his weight. Shirou pushed his hips up to meet Arthur’s and Arthur jerked like he’d been burned.

“Are you okay?” Shirou asked.

“Oh. Yeah, I’m okay. I’m… more than okay,” Arthur said. He was staring a little wide-eyed at Shirou, as if some revelation had just struck him and he was still trying to process it.

Shirou pushed his shoulder, and Arthur let himself be guided so hey were both lying on their sides and facing one another. “Do we need to take this slower?” Shirou asked. “You’ve never been with a man, but…”

“I’m not, like, a virgin. I’m not that inexperienced. It’s just that I’ve only ever been with Manaka and… It’s a good thing, but you’re nothing like her at all. It’s not that you’re a man, I really don’t care about that.”

“Don't think too hard about it,” Shirou said. “Let's just get undressed first.”

That made Arthur flush an even brighter red than before, which had really been Shirou’s goal. He sat up and started unbuttoning his shirt, and Arthur sat up as well and tried to help him. Shirou batted him away. “Take your shirt off,” he said.

Arthur visibly shuddered at the command, and Shirou thought he might actually enjoy being the one in control here. He was pulling his arms out of his sleeves when Arthur finally tugged his t-shirt off.

Shirou let his shirt drop to the floor next to the bed and put both his hands on Arthur’s chest. His muscles were firm beneath Shirou’s palms, and his light dusting of blonde chest hair was surprisingly soft. His nipples were already peaked. He made an interesting noise when Shirou rubbed his palms across them.

“What about you?” Arthur asked. He sounded almost agonized.

Shirou took his undershirt off, and then he went one step further by getting up on his knees to take his pants off. He was being uncharacteristically careless with his clothes, not even bothering to take his belt out of the loops before tossing the pants to join his shirt and undershirt on the floor. He left his underwear, but tossed his socks aside after his pants.

Arthur pushed him down onto the bed and kissed him. He slid a hesitant hand up Shirou’s stomach to his chest, and Shirou tensed under the soft touch before letting out an only slightly exaggerated moan when the other man’s fingers came into contact with a nipple. Arthur repeated that motion, and kissed him again, and Shirou wrapped his own arms around the blond’s back and pushed his fingers beneath his waistband.

After that it was Arthur’s turn to kneel, straddling Shirou’s legs in a way that made his removing his pants awkward. That didn't bother Shirou, though. He stared openly in anticipation of what else Arthur was hiding beneath his clothes, besides the broad chest and tight stomach he'd already revealed.

He got it quicker than he was expecting. Arthur pulled his underwear off with his jeans and his cock sprang free. The evidence of his arousal was overwhelming. Shirou wanted to touch it, to taste it even, and he reached out before Arthur could say anything to stop him.

Arthur gasped at the contact. He stayed perfectly still while Shirou shimmied out from under him and he got, if anything, even more still as Shirou leaned toward him and circled his tongue around the tip.

When Shirou took the head into his mouth, Arthur finally moved. He grabbed Shirou’s head with both hands, not really pushing, but his grip was uncomfortably tight around Shirou’s skull. He pulled away and shook his head so Arthur let go. “Don't grab me so hard,” he said, although a look at Arthur’s face made him wonder if the other man even understood his words. His expression was a little alarming.

Shirou let go of him and got up on his knees to cup his hands against Arthur’s cheeks. “Are you okay?” he asked.

“I feel like I'll come in a second if you do that,” the other man said.

Shirou kissed him lightly.

“I want to last longer than that,” he continued. “I haven't even seen all of you yet.” His hands punctuated that last statement, one on Shirou’s hip and the other flat against his erection, still confined by his underwear but clearly visible beneath the thin cotton.

Shirou brushed his hands away and took off his underwear. He wasn't as hard as Arthur was, and his cock wasn’t as large or prominent as the other man’s, but it didn't seem like Arthur was thinking about that. He put his fingers on it almost reverently, but Shirou pushed forward against his too-light touch.

“Can I try… Um, with my mouth?” Arthur asked, looking Shirou in the eye.

“Yes,” Shirou said. He didn't think he'd ever had such an earnest lover.

“I'm sorry if it's no good…”

“Hold on, let me lay down.” Shirou shuffled around so he could lay, pushing his pillows up against the headboard and leaning back against them. It was always strange to be having sex in this bed. Since Artoria was almost always home, it was very rare for him to bring anyone to the apartment.

He beckoned to Arthur and the other man swallowed hard and crawled forward to lay on his stomach between Shirou’s legs.

He was cautious, but Shirou could be patient. He didn't try to keep quiet, especially when he realized his sighs and moans were goading the other man on. Arthur’s inexperience was obvious, but once he'd gotten over his caution his enthusiasm made up for it.

Shirou reached down and gently pushed Arthur’s head up and away from him, although his heart skipped a beat at the lewd expression on the other man’s face. His lips were shiny with spit and his face was still flushed brightly. He looked more than a little out of it.

“Hey, Arthur,” Shirou said. “Are you enjoying this?”

Arthur’s eyes widened and then he nodded.

Shirou smiled. “Come up here.”

Arthur followed his instructions without question. He crawled forward so that his chest rubbed against Shirou’s and the low-hanging tip of his cock rubbed along Shirou’s hip. Shirou guided him into another kiss and arched up as he had when they'd first gotten into the bed, pressing their hips together. Arthur moaned against Shirou’s mouth. Shirou could definitely get used to being in control like this.

He considered asking Arthur to fuck him, but he wasn't sure he wanted to spring something so involved on the other man. He wasn’t at all comfortable with the idea of asking if the other man had ever had anal sex, especially in heat of the situation they were in right now. There would be another time for that talk. Instead, he pushed Arthur away enough that he could maneuver himself over to the nightstand. Even though he didn’t have sex here often, he at least kept a bottle of oil in his bedside drawer.

Arthur had pushed himself back up on his hands and knees as he watched what Shirou was doing. Shirou poured some oil on his hands and slid back under Arthur. “Come back down here,” he said.

He wrapped his hand around both of them, smiling as Arthur reflexively jerked his hips. Arthur put his own hand on top of Shirou’s as Shirou started to pump their cocks together.

Whether or not Arthur would have preferred penetrative sex, he didn’t protest. He moaned loudly as he came, and then kissed Shirou as Shirou followed him. He didn’t collapse on top of the smaller man beneath him, still shakily supporting himself with one arm while he slid his other hand around Shirou’s waist. They were both sticky and sweaty enough as it was.

They kissed a little while longer, then Arthur pushed himself off Shirou. He looked dazed by what had just happened. Shirou stayed put and watched him as he ran his hand through his hair and looked down at the mix of Shirou’s and his semen on his stomach. “That wasn’t what I was expecting,” he said.

“What were you expecting?”

“It was good, it was better than I thought it would be. It wasn’t anything like sex with Manaka, though. Just… really different. More mutual.”

“Normally it’s a turn-off to talk about your previous sex life with a new partner,” Shirou said. It must not have been a very satisfying sex life for Arthur based on that comment, but maybe there’d just been a power imbalance in his previous relationship and that was all he’d meant.

“Sorry,” Arthur said. “And thanks.”

“That's also a weird thing to say after having sex with someone,” Shirou said.

“Uh, I mean, thanks for accepting my sincerity earlier. I know I was rude.”

Shirou turned over so he was facing Arthur, their faces close together. Arthur looked slightly alarmed at this. “After that,” he said, “do you want to properly date me?”

Arthur frowned, took a deep breath, and looked away. “I guess I do,” he said. “I want to get to know you better. I want to hang out with you more.”

“What about this?” Shirou asked, wiggling his hips suggestively.

The other man swallowed hard, then composed himself. “I wouldn't mind more of that, either.”

“Do you want to sleep here?” Shirou asked. “In my bed, I mean. There’s no reason for you to sleep on the couch tonight.”

Arthur hesitated. “Tori’s not back tomorrow, is she?”

“She won’t be back until Sunday evening,” Shirou said. He didn’t understand Arthur’s hesitation, after the man had just said he was interested in an actual relationship. “We both need to shower first, so you can decide while you’re in the shower. I’ll let you go first.”

Arthur was already asleep in Shirou’s bed when Shirou got out of the shower. He woke up when Shirou climbed in, and then things were briefly awkward again. Arthur was clearly unsure how close he should lay to the other man, and he flinched when Shirou touched him. Shirou took the initiative to push himself up against Arthur’s chest and fell asleep with Arthur’s arms around him and his head cradled on the other man’s bicep.

* * *

Shirou woke gradually, with a dim thought that his alarm hadn't gone off yet before he realized how light it was in the room already. He reached for his phone, which he usually left on the corner of the mattress, but it wasn't there.

And then he sat up, remembering what he had done the previous night.

According to the clock on his bedside table, it was well into the morning, almost ten o’clock. He wondered why Arthur hadn’t woken him, and then he wondered why the apartment was so quiet. He couldn’t hear the TV, or the shower, or anyone in the kitchen. Maybe Arthur had gotten up and moved to the couch sometime in the night? He couldn’t imagine why the other man would do that.

He got up. He normally slept in pajama pants out of consideration for Artoria, but he’d spent the previous night in nothing but his underwear, and he didn’t bother putting anything else on as he walked into the living room.

The room was empty. It was clean, like it normally was when Artoria was away, all of her game systems and other equipment neatly stowed away. The window shade was half-open, and the midmorning light that streamed in made it obvious that Arthur was gone. Gone completely, not just out for a bit. Not getting breakfast or running an errand. The sheets and blanket he’d been using were folded neatly on top of his pillow, sitting in the middle of the couch. His suitcase, which had been sitting in front of the window, was gone.

The spare key they’d given him was the most jarring thing, sitting on the floor just inside the door. He must have locked it after he left and shoved the key underneath the door.

Shirou had not wanted to think of sleeping with Arthur as a mistake. He’d maybe been a little too eager for it, maybe been a little too influenced by his long dry spell than he should have been. He didn’t think he’d rushed Arthur, or pressured him. Arthur had come on to him in the first place. He darted back to his bed and found his pants from the previous day on the floor. His phone was still in the pocket, thankfully, but when he pulled it out he realized he didn’t actually have Arthur’s number. He hadn’t asked for it.

He sat down on the bed. What had happened? Arthur had seemed happy, had seemed satisfied. There’d been nothing to indicate he regretted it. Definitely nothing to make Shirou even slightly suspect he would leave without warning.

What was he going to tell Artoria? Should he call her and let her know now? Wait and break the news when she came back? He’d never done anything to actually make Artoria angry, but this was probably going to. There was no way she was going to take the news that Arthur had run away after sleeping with him well. He briefly considered calling Rin to ask for her advice but he didn’t want it getting back to Archer and he didn’t think it was fair to demand she keep secrets from her fiance.

He couldn’t remember the last time he’d made a mistake this big.


	2. One Year After

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When Arthur unexpectedly reappears in Shirou's life, he learns something he really should have figured out a long time ago.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This takes place one year after the main story. It probably won't make a whole lot of sense if you haven't read the first part of this or the main story!
> 
> I'm sorry I kinda handwave what happened directly after the end of the main story... a brief summary is that Shirou moved in with Gilgamesh, started going stir-crazy, and got a new job. Meanwhile, Artoria also moved out of their old apartment and lives Somewhere Else (more on that in the next sequel/side story I'm working on)

Shirou noticed Arthur immediately. He was dressed plainly in a t-shirt and jeans and wearing a baseball cap, but he stuck out mostly by being one of the only people on the sidewalk not moving. It took him another second to recognize him, and he froze as soon as he did. “Arthur?” he asked.

“Hi,” Arthur said, holding up a hand in greeting. “Long time no see.”

Shirou moved back closer to the building, out of the path of the foot traffic that was a constant in the city. Arthur followed him. “Why are you here?” Shirou asked. “Are you looking for Artoria?” He paused, then also asked, “How did you know where I work?”

“Google,” Arthur said, “for the last one. You're a publicist so your name’s easy to find.”

“And?”

“Well…” Arthur looked up at the building’s facade. “Tori doesn't know. I haven't been able to contact her. I even tried writing her a letter but I guess you don't live in the same place anymore.”

“So you found me to find her?”

He shrugged. “I doubt she wants to talk to me.”

“It's been more than three years,” Shirou said. “I won't give you her number without her permission, but I'll give her yours if you want.”

Arthur didn’t say anything, just continued to study the building. Finally, he looked back down at Shirou. “Do you want to go have a coffee or something?”

That didn't follow what Shirou had just said and he frowned. “Coffee?”

“There’s plenty of cafes around here. It'd be a nicer place to talk than on the sidewalk.”

This might be a bad idea. Arthur had made it fairly clear by leaving that he didn't want an actual relationship then, and Shirou didn't know him well enough to gauge his intentions now. He looked hopeful, but that was about all Shirou could glean from him.

Coffee in a public place couldn't be too risky, though. Crowds weren't always safe, but he wouldn't be alone with Arthur, and if he picked the place he'd have an advantage anyway. And the longer they stayed on the street the more chance there was some bored paparazzo would take an interest. He was only a tangential target because of his association with Gilgamesh but it was hard to know when and where photographers were hanging around. “Fine,” he said.

He led the way to his third favorite coffee shop. He didn't want to go to his favorite one, because he was a regular there and they would want to know who Arthur was, and his second favorite didn't have much in the way of seating. Arthur didn't protest as they passed two other cafes on the way. The place wasn't crowded, by some miracle, and Shirou snagged a two-person table toward the back of the room. Away from the front windows was always better, although it left him less escape options.

“What do you want?” Arthur asked. He took his hat off and set it on the table. “I'll order so you can save the seats.”

Shirou nodded and sat down. “Latte with soy is fine. And get me a slice of their marble loaf.”

“Sure.”

He didn't come back until he'd gotten the coffee, managing to carry two cups with saucers and a plate with the cake efficiently enough that Shirou wondered if he'd been working as a waiter. He set Shirou’s coffee in front of him and then took his own seat.

Shirou looked at the mug, then looked up at Arthur. “So, what do you want?”

“You sound so cold,” Arthur said.

“Are you surprised?” Shirou asked, his words snappier than he intended. “You show up one day, hang out for a week, tell me you’re in love with me, and then disappear after I let you sleep with me. You left me to have to explain what happened to Artoria. I don't think it's a stretch for me to have assumed the whole thing was under false pretenses. You were lonely, so you used me, but you clearly regretted it.”

Arthur stared at his hands, folded on the table. “I do regret it, but not for the reasons you think. I left because I'm a coward. I slept with you because I thought I could be with someone like you, but I knew I couldn't face Tori after. We might have been estranged a long time but I still felt like I was betraying her.”

“I don't see how sleeping with her roommate constitutes betrayal. It would have been awkward, but--”

Arthur interrupted him by looking up, finally, and asking, “You really don't know?”

“Don't know what?”

Both of Arthur’s eyebrows shot up. “I didn't think you'd realized back then, and I tried to give you some hints, but I can't believe you still don't know.”

“What?” Shirou was already regretting this meeting.

“Artoria’s in love with you.”

The floor dropped out from under Shirou. He had to grab the edge of the table, but Arthur went on. “I mean I don't know if that's still the case, but it certainly was then. That's why it would have been betrayal. I'm sure she knew it wouldn't work with you, so it doesn't surprise me she never said anything, but I don't know how you never realized.”

They'd been friends for a long time, that's how Shirou had never realized. He'd never even considered. He'd told Artoria on their first meeting that he wasn't interested in women, and she’d been so desperate for a place to live that she’d said she didn't care anyway. He'd dated an endless stream of men in the years that he'd known her, and she had almost gotten along with a few of them at the beginning, but since then she'd unequivocally hated all of them. He'd never understood why, but eventually gave up trying to persuade her to like them.

She'd always been there for him. She'd made him tea after bad breakups. She'd taken care of him when he was sick. She'd supported him romantically, but if he thought about it she was most supportive when he was single. When he was dating she'd always question his partner’s motives, or just not say anything. Even with Gilgamesh, she'd encouraged him and then tried to warn him away.

He remembered nights when he'd fallen asleep on the couch and woken up to find her running her fingers through his hair. He remembered her trying to convince him to give her cooking lessons so she could help in the kitchen, and how stiff she'd been when he stood close and tried to guide her. He remembered dozens of things that he'd noticed but never tried to interpret before. He remembered the conversation he'd had with Arthur that night when they'd slept together. He'd chalked Arthur’s nerves up to having never been with a man, but the whole scene played out differently if it was a man who had decided to throw away his relationship with his sister for one night with the man she was in love with.

Arthur was calmly sipping his coffee while Shirou’s mind ran through everything he'd ever done or said to Artoria. He'd hurt her endlessly without ever knowing. He'd slept with her brother, a man who shared her face. He was the worst person alive. “Does it make sense now?” Arthur asked.

“Why didn't you say it then?”

“Because I knew you would reject me if I did. I already knew that would be my only chance to have a chance with you, because a relationship would never have worked. I at least wanted that memory.”

Artoria had cried when Shirou told her what happened.

“I figured you'd realize it in time, or she'd finally tell you outright. I forgot how stubborn she was, I guess, and I didn't know how dense you were.”

“I…” Shirou had no words to defend himself.

“If she's still in love with you, she won't have forgiven me. I guess that's what I came to find out, but it doesn't seem like you're going to be able to tell me that.”

Shirou composed himself. He took a shaky sip of his coffee and an equally shaky bite of the cake. “Give me your number and I'll give it to her,” he said.

“No,” Arthur said. “I don't want to do that. What is she going to think about you and I meeting again? I don't want to hurt her.”

Shirou slammed his fork back down on the table. “Why couldn't you have decided that then? You don't want to hurt her now, so why was it fine then? Because you were already gone and I would be the one ignorantly inflicting the blow?” Who else knew about this? Did Rin know? Did Archer? Did Gilgamesh?

“I already said I'm a coward,” Arthur said. “She won't call me, though, so there's really no reason to go through with it.”

“What were you planning to say if I told you I knew that she was in love with me?”

“In that case I would have gone through with it. If you knew her feelings and were still friends, I could assume you'd both come to terms with it. To be honest, though, I was half expecting you'd tell me you weren't friends anymore.”

“And what would you have done if I'd told you that?”

Arthur shrugged. “Probably proposition you.”

“I find it hard to believe you found me via Google and didn't find out who I'm with now,” Shirou said.

“Oh, no, I know about that. I don't care about hurting Gilgamesh Kish, so that isn't a consideration. I don't think he deserves you, even if he did rescue you from a crazy person.”

“Are you still in love with me?” Shirou asked. It wasn't a question he should ask. The answer wasn't anything he needed or wanted to know.

“You mean have I been pining for you the past three years?”

“I guess.”

“Not really. But I also haven't fallen in love with anyone else in that time, and I can't say I haven't thought of you. I couldn't know if you were the same person. If you were, if you are, I'm sure my feelings would come back when I met you again.”

“But they haven't?”

Arthur shrugged. “I don't know why you want to know that. It's kind of a cruel question to ask when you've already pointed out you're not available.”

Shirou sipped his coffee again. “Sorry,” he said.

“So what about Artoria? I know you didn't know about her feelings at all, but does she still love you?”

He put the cup down.“We don't live together anymore, so I don't see her as much,” he said, which didn't answer the question. He couldn’t answer that question. He tried to think if there was any recent evidence.

“Excuse me.”

Shirou looked up to see Gilgamesh standing next to their table, looking coldly down at Arthur. He was wearing his motorcycle leathers, which meant he'd been on his way home. Shirou hadn't looked at his phone since leaving work.

Arthur stood up and offered Gilgamesh his hand, smiling as if he hadn’t been having a heavy conversation seconds earlier. “I'm Arthur Pendragon,” he said. “I'm Artoria’s brother. I assume you know Artoria.”

Gilgamesh didn't even look at his hand. Arthur dropped it. “What do you think you are doing with Shirou?”

Shirou was glad that Gilgamesh had no way of knowing his and Arthur’s history. He wasn't doing anything wrong by meeting Arthur here, and he didn't think Gilgamesh thought he was, but it was sometimes hard to discern what the man was actually thinking.

“I thought he might be able to help me reunite with my sister,” Arthur said. He didn’t seem the least intimidated by Gilgamesh’s icy glare. Shirou was impressed despite himself.

Shirou didn’t get up, but he did reach out and put a hand on Gilgamesh’s arm. “It’s fine,” he said. “I should have texted you to say I wasn’t coming straight home. He really is Artoria’s brother.”

Gilgamesh looked down at him, his expression instantly warmer. “That’s obvious,” he said.

“I know,” Shirou said.

“You don’t look happy to see him.”

Arthur stepped away to grab a chair from another table and offered it to Gilgamesh, who gave him a disgusted look but then sat down. “Do you want any coffee?” he asked.

“No,” Gilgamesh said.

Arthur sat back down and picked up his cup again. “I promise I wasn’t planning anything nefarious,” he said. “We were just talking.”

“It’s complicated,” Shirou said to Gilgamesh. To Arthur, he said. “I think I should go.”

“Finish your coffee,” Gilgamesh said.

Shirou frowned, but he picked the cup back up anyway and took a sip.

His partner’s expression had turned from cold to flat as he regarded Arthur again. Shirou didn't really know if that was an improvement. He took a bite of cake.

“Why are you and Artoria estranged?” Gilgamesh asked.

Arthur jerked like he'd been hit. “Um, well… It's complicated,” he said, echoing Shirou without meeting the other man’s eyes.

“He was staying with us a few years ago for a little while and they had a falling out,” Shirou supplied. Arthur gave him a relieved look.

Gilgamesh leaned his elbow on the table. “I don't believe it was that simple,” he said. “You're after Shirou, aren't you?”

Shirou choked on the sip of coffee he'd just taken. Gilgamesh ignored him, his eyes steady on Arthur as he waited for a response.

To his shock, Arthur laughed. “I wasn't lying when I said I was hoping he could help me reconnect with Artoria, but I wouldn't have minded if I just reconnected with him instead.”

Gilgamesh narrowed his eyes. “He belongs to me,” he said.

“Does he?” Arthur asked.

Shirou finished his coffee and put the cup down hard enough to rattle it's saucer. “Would you stop talking about me like that?” he said, glaring at both of them.

He hadn't quite finished the cake but he also didn't care anymore. Arthur could finish it if he wanted. He got up and Gilgamesh also stood. “Arthur, thanks for the coffee. Sorry I can't help you with Artoria.”

Arthur merely smiled at him, and he dragged Gilgamesh away.

Once outside, Shirou lost some of his nerve. He was angry at Gilgamesh, but he was unwilling to have an argument with him in the street where anyone could see and hear it. The last thing he needed was to see that in the tabloid headlines. Now that Gilgamesh had shown up it was almost guaranteed there were paparazzi around, although the majority of them had the sense to use telephoto lenses from a distance. Gilgamesh had a reputation for breaking cameras.

“Don't sulk,” Gilgamesh said. “I'm taking you home.” His motorcycle was very illegally parked on the sidewalk near the cafe, and he had Shirou’s helmet secured on the back of it.

“What about my car?” Shirou asked. Living with Gilgamesh made using public transportation impossible, but the rent on a dedicated parking spot in the garage two blocks away wasn't too bad, and Gilgamesh was lending him a car. He'd bought it and never gotten around to having it repainted before he'd decided he wanted something faster that looked better painted gold.

“I'll bring you to work tomorrow,” Gilgamesh said. “You can leave it overnight.”

“Fine.” At least the motorcycle trip would mean he'd have time to get his thoughts in order before they could really talk. He took his jacket off and folded it to put it in his backpack. Better wrinkled than covered in road dirt. Gilgamesh handed him his leather jacket, and Shirou considered protesting that for a moment but just put it on. He climbed onto the bike behind Gilgamesh after putting his helmet on as well.

They didn’t often ride together on the motorcycle. Shirou didn’t really mind doing it–although he preferred not to when he was dressed for work–it was just that the opportunity didn’t arise very often. It was usually more practical to take one of the cars if they were going on some kind of weekend excursion. He felt surprisingly safe on the bike, probably because riding tandem involved his chest pressed tightly up against Gilgamesh’s back. Gilgamesh’s bike had a long enough saddle for two, but it didn’t have a second proper seat like some motorcycles.

He wondered if Artoria really was still in love with him. How had he never realized? She used to joke all the time about him being her wife, about them being basically married. There were so many little things she did that made more sense now that he knew the truth. How she liked to make pointed comments about domestic chores they shared when one of Shirou’s boyfriends was around. How she always turned any serious conversation about romance into a joke. She’d been single for as long as he knew her, and she’d never really so much as mentioned any exes of her own.

He really was the stupidest man alive. She knew he didn’t like women, so he’d just assumed there was no worry about anything like that with her. And she’d never confessed the truth. She probably had been too afraid it would destroy the relationship that they’d had. After all, when he wasn’t dating anyone, they were together almost all of the time anyway. The only thing they’d never done had been to sleep together. Had she wanted to? Would she have, given the chance?

Certainly he never would have slept with Arthur if he’d known about Artoria’s feelings. He wondered if he would have confronted her, if he’d found out while they were still living together. He wondered if he should confront her now. He’d been hurtful enough without ever knowing. Asking her if she was still in love with him seemed like it would just be rubbing salt in her wounds. The very fact that she’d never confessed it meant she probably never wanted him to know. Would he be able to look at her the same way at all, though? He wasn’t going to be able to keep it out of his head next time they saw each other.

Arthur had known, and hadn’t told him, and had seduced him anyway. At the time, he and Artoria had been estranged for years, but what kind of brother did something like that? He couldn’t wrap his head around it. He hadn’t always gotten along with Archer, but he would never have betrayed Archer by sleeping with someone he was in love with.

Could he be so sure of that, though? He’d never been in that kind of a situation. That kind of a situation was impossible, since Archer only liked women, and Shirou only liked men. It would never happen, so of course Shirou could say he would never do it. How strong had Arthur’s feelings for him been that he was willing to go so far? They’d been strong enough to justify the act over Artoria’s feelings, but not strong enough to let him weather her reaction. She’d cried when he’d told her what happened. He had never really understood why. He’d thought that she blamed him for chasing Arthur off when they were finally making some progress in their sibling relationship. He’d apologized so many times, but he hadn’t even been apologizing for the right thing. He’d thought Arthur had just had a panic over having slept with a man.

* * *

Gilgamesh was quiet as he parked in the garage and went inside. Shirou hung up his jacket right away, and Gilgamesh changed out of his riding leathers in his closet as usual. Normally Shirou got home first and started dinner as soon as Gilgamesh told him he was on his way. He wanted to go and start it now, but he stood in the bathroom and rolled his sleeves up while he waited for Gilgamesh to come out.

He didn't know if Gilgamesh was actually angry with him. He knew the man was easily driven to jealousy, though, and this was the first time he'd actually encountered any of Shirou’s exes in person. If Arthur even counted as an ex. He was more than a one-night stand, but Shirou had never really dated him.

Gilgamesh finally finished getting changed. He had an odd concept of around-the-house clothes. Today he was wearing some tight, ripped-up jeans and a sleeveless shirt that looked two sizes too big for him and drooped down in the front enough to show his chest. Shirou was fairly certain the jeans were women’s jeans, and the placement of some of the holes made it unclear whether or not he was actually wearing any underwear.

“Are we having dinner?” was the first thing he said, although he came over to Shirou and put his arms around the smaller man’s waist.

“Yeah, I just wanted to make sure you weren't angry,” Shirou said.

“Why would I be angry?”

“Because I went off with another guy without letting you know?”

“Do you think that would make me angry?”

“I don't know. It would probably annoy me if you did it.”

“I ‘go off with other men’ all the time for work, you know.”

“That's different.”

“He's just Artoria’s brother, right? That makes him like a cousin to you, doesn't it?”

That was a weird way to put it. He did consider Artoria to be family, but he didn't really extend that consideration to her family. He still had never met her parents. “No,” he said. He'd assumed from Gilgamesh’s behavior at the cafe that the man had realized there’d been something between Arthur and him in the past, but maybe that wasn't the case. He was feeling guilty for no reason.

“I wasn't angry. I was worried,” Gilgamesh said. “When I saw you hadn't sent a message that you were on your way home, I assumed you were working late. When I checked your location, you were clearly not at work. If you'd gone out with your coworkers, you would have told me. I couldn't tell where you were. I didn't know it was a coffee shop until I got there.”

Shirou rested his cheek on Gilgamesh’s chest. He felt dishonest now. It wasn't necessarily Gilgamesh’s business who he had slept with before they'd met, but what if Arthur showed up again? Was it better for Gilgamesh to know that history or not?

“I don't want you to be angry,” Shirou said, “but I want to be honest with you. It's my fault that Arthur and Artoria are estranged to begin with.”

Gilgamesh backed up, putting Shirou at arm’s length. Shirou couldn't quite look him in the eye. For this to make sense, Gilgamesh needed to know Artoria had feelings for him, but Shirou didn't think that was his secret to tell. He had no idea whether or not the man knew. He decided not to say it directly. “Well, it's not entirely my fault. He ran off with his high school sweetheart after graduation, but then, about three years ago, he showed up at our apartment saying he'd left her and had no place to go.

“Artoria didn't really want to let him stay but she agreed, as long as it was temporary.” He was going into pointless detail here. “She had a job that took her out of town for a few days and while she was gone… We slept together. Arthur and I. He said he'd fallen in love with me. It was stupid of me to let it happen, but it did, and he left before I woke up the next morning. Artoria blocked his number after that and I'd never given him mine so neither of us heard from him until today.”

“You slept with Artoria’s brother?” Gilgamesh said, slowly. Shirou wanted to see what kind of expression he was making but he couldn't bring himself to do it. He stared at the bathroom floor.

“There's nothing between us now, though. He really was just there to see if I would help him get in touch with Artoria. He found out where I work from Google.”

Gilgamesh didn't say anything else right away. Instead, he took hold of Shirou’s arm and guided him out of the bathroom, through the bedroom and to the living room. He sat on one of the couches and Shirou sat next to him, and finally looked at his face.

He didn't seem angry, but Shirou couldn't interpret his expression well. He looked… Pensive, maybe? Like he had something he wanted to say but couldn't.

“I just wanted you to know,” Shirou said.

“I trust you would never cheat on me,” Gilgamesh said. “You're too honest. You're too honest with both your feelings and your body.”

Shirou flushed slightly at that. He didn't know exactly what Gilgamesh meant.

“You're too honest with your desires. I thought I would have to persuade you to sleep with me, and I thought you'd refuse it even if I tried, but you probably wouldn't refuse anyone if you wanted them, would you?”

“Not if I was free to do so,” Shirou admitted. “Like you said, I would never cheat on you. I've never cheated on anyone.” Not knowingly. He had slept with men who had lied to him about being single, but he didn't feel like he was the sinner there.

“Still,” Gilgamesh said, “I don't want you to see that man again. If he shows up at your work, tell me. I trust you, but I don't trust him.”

“Sorry,” Shirou said.

“For what?”

“For letting him take me for coffee today.”

“You shouldn't tell Artoria you saw him,” Gilgamesh said.

“What?”

“That's my advice.”

Shirou waited for further explanation, but Gilgamesh only got up and walked toward the kitchen. “I'm hungry,” he said.

Gilgamesh was considerably more handy in the kitchen than Artoria had ever been. He had no motivation to cook on his own, but he could follow a recipe and he could manage most kitchen tools, so he helped Shirou with any prep that needed to be done. The result was that Shirou could make more involved meals more easily, so he took advantage of it. He’d asked Alicia to buy the ingredients for a stir-fry recipe a coworker had given him, so he set Gilgamesh to work chopping vegetables while he prepared the meat.

Shirou didn't like it to be quiet in the kitchen, so he started their normal after work conversation up, telling Gilgamesh about his day–prior to Arthur showing up–and asking how the other man’s day had been. He fretted over Gilgamesh’s lack of response but filled the gaps in the conversation himself until dinner was finished and on the table.

“This is good. Where did you find the recipe?” Gilgamesh asked after a silent start to the meal.

“One of my coworkers. She’s trying to start a food blog on the side and asked me if I wanted to test anything for her.”

“Oh, do I need to write a review of it, then?”

The teasing tone of Gilgamesh’s voice was a reassuring sign that things were back to normal.

* * *

That was what he thought, until Gilgamesh ambushed him while he was still doing the dishes. The blond leaned against his back and reached around him to turn the water at the sink off before kissing Shirou’s neck.

Shirou turned it back on. “I'm all soapy,” he said.

“You're supposed to leave the dishes for Alicia,” Gilgamesh told him as he progressed from kissing to nibbling and tugging his shirt hem free of his pants.

Shirou turned the water back off after rinsing his hands. Finishing the dishes was already a lost cause. “I just hate leaving them in the sink overnight,” he said, as he turned around in the circle of Gilgamesh’s arms. The other man took the opportunity to kiss him on the lips instead of just the neck and pinned him against the counter with his hips.

“You know what happened today is part of why I didn’t want you to take so public a job,” Gilgamesh said. “You’re too easy to find.”

“Generally, no one’s looking for me,” Shirou said. That was more or less true. Every so often an opportunistic reporter would show up at his building hoping to get a scoop on something Uruk was involved in, but they’d never gotten past security when Shirou was actually at work, and threats to call the police usually warned them off if they approached him on his way to his car. There wasn’t really anyone else who was interested in him. Kirei was in jail, and that whole story had blown over within a couple of months, during which Gilgamesh had really been the one in the spotlight due to the media casting him in the role of romantic hero. Shirou, during that time, hadn’t left Gilgamesh’s house except for a couple of follow up visits to the hospital. There was certainly a lot of things that came up if you did a websearch on his name, but Shirou’s life was mostly quiet at the moment.

“You know I’m the jealous type. What if another one of your old flames shows up? I trust you, but I don’t trust anyone else.”

Shirou had never elaborated on just how many “old flames” he actually had, but he laughed anyway. “I don’t think that’s a consideration worth worrying about, honestly. You know building security will give me an escort to my car if I need it.”

“You’re too careless for someone who’s been kidnapped once already,” Gilgamesh said.

“And you worry too much. Have a little faith in me.”

Gilgamesh kissed him again. They didn’t often have sex on a weeknight, but it wasn’t really a rule, and Shirou wanted a distraction from the day’s revelations. He did, however, have a strict rule against having sex in the kitchen. “Let’s go to the bedroom,” he said, even as he slid his hands under Gilgamesh’s baggy shirt.

The blond sighed. “You realize this is the only room in the house we’ve never properly christened,” he said.

Shirou laughed. “That’s because it’s disgusting. And it’s not even true, there’s the entire upstairs.”

“Fine,” Gilgamesh said. He kissed Shirou one more time before they went to the bedroom.

Gilgamesh barely let him get in the door before he was tugging Shirou’s shirt out of his pants and kissing him again. “You should really change into something easier to take off you when you get home from work,” Gilgamesh said as he started unbuttoning Shirou’s shirt.

“And you shouldn’t wear such tight pants,” Shirou replied, cupping his hand around Gilgamesh’s crotch. “It can’t be comfortable when you’re like this.”

Gilgamesh groaned and fumbled with the button he was trying to undo. “Just unzip them,” he said. “It’s easier to deal with than all of these damn buttons.”

“Be careful,” Shirou said.

“Fine,” Gilgamesh said. “I’ll take my own advice.” He abandoned Shirou’s shirt and instead moved his hands down to Shirou’s belt, a much simpler problem to undo. He had Shirou’s pants open almost immediately, pushing them down and sliding his hands beneath the waistband of the boxer briefs Shirou always wore to grope his ass. Shirou managed to get Gilgamesh’s pants open as well, although he was considerably less efficient about it. He confirmed that Gilgamesh was in fact not wearing any underwear. Shirou had no idea how he could stand doing that.

He surprised Gilgamesh by dropping to his knees. He pulled Gilgamesh’s cock completely free and immediately slid his tongue over the head. Gilgamesh was certainly already more than half hard, and he groaned and cupped one hand over the back of Shirou’s head.

Shirou actually didn’t suck his cock that often. There wasn’t really any reason for it, other than that he preferred getting fucked in the ass rather than the mouth, but the younger man had not lost any of his skill with that lack of practice. He could bring Gilgamesh to the edge embarrassingly fast, and all Gilgamesh could really do was hang on for the ride.

“Shirou, stop,” he said. He had to, grudgingly, pull Shirou’s head away before the redhead would actually stop, and Shirou looked up at him, his lips slick with spit and his tongue still half out of his mouth.

It took Gilgamesh a moment to realize Shirou had his own hand down the back of his underwear and he tugged the smaller man up and half threw him against the bed. Shirou managed to get his pants off as Gilgamesh was climbing into the bed over him, and Gilgamesh pulled his underwear down to follow them. This disheveled, half-clothed Shirou on the bed beneath him was unbearably sexy.

They kissed, Shirou pushing his dick up against Gilgamesh’s, his hips moving in what were probably unconscious thrusts as Gilgamesh wrapped a hand around them both. His cock was slick enough with spit, and Shirou’s was liberally dripping precome, so he didn’t pause to get any lubricant out of either nightstand. He just pumped his hand as Shirou writhed beneath him and sucked a bruise onto Shirou’s collarbone, then another on his throat.

Shirou hated having to cover up hickeys, although Gilgamesh usually had the sense to put them low enough that they would be covered by Shirou’s normal collared shirts, but he didn’t have the presence of mind to protest at the moment. This was shaping up to be a quick handjob, but that was fine too. He came before Gilgamesh, but only by a few seconds.

Gilgamesh brought his hand up and licked it, and Shirou couldn’t resist having his own taste before Gilgamesh carelessly wiped it on the comforter next to them. The blonde got up, then, shoving his jeans down the rest of the way and peeling them off. He tugged Shirou’s underwear the rest of the way off too, as they’d ended up tangled around the younger man’s shins. Shirou sat up and unbuttoned his shirt the rest of the way, dropping it on the bed behind him. It had narrowly missed getting come on it by the virtue of Gilgamesh unbuttoning it from the bottom rather than the top, so Shirou’s stomach had been exposed by the half-open shirt.

“A shower?” Gilgamesh asked.

“Sounds good to me,” Shirou said, following his lover into the bathroom.


End file.
